Issue 088

May 2012

The men with connections between mixed martial arts throwdowns and bodybuilding posedowns…

1 Ken Yasuda

The most successful bodybuilder on this list, ‘Japan’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’ has never fought under MMA rules. He originally wanted to play baseball professionally, but an injured pitching arm derailed that plan and he discovered bodybuilding instead. Since then, the 40-year-old has placed highly in countless bodybuilding competitions, released workout videos and appeared in several action films. Yasuda has also helped Kazuyuki Fujita and Don Frye with their strength and conditioning and, in February 2007, took over from Antonio Inoki as coach of the IFL’s Los Angeles-based Tokyo Sabres. Yasuda’s squad included fighters like Antonio McKee and Vladimir Matyushenko.

2 James Thompson

‘The Colossus’ is a huge, huge human being and one of the highest profile British fighters in MMA history – Thompson and Kimbo Slice set a US viewership record after almost 7.3 million Americans watched their May 2008 EliteXC rumble on CBS, a number that stood for three and a half years, until Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez eclipsed it last November with the massive UFC Fox debut. Thompson, who trained in bodybuilding before discovering MMA, was a cult hero in Japan’s Pride FC for his size, physique and frenetic ‘gong and dash’ style where he would often greet the opening bell of a bout by running toward his opponent ready to launch huge haymakers. Almost always entertaining, Thompson holds wins over fighters as diverse as ‘Giant’ Silva, Hidehiko Yoshida and Don Frye.

3 Kyle Kingsbury

A former Arizona State collegiate football player, Ultimate Fighter season eight contestant Kingsbury lost an elimination match to Ryan Bader before entering the house but was impressive enough to be drafted in to replace an injured fighter, only to eventually be eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski, also on this list. A decent light heavyweight, Kingsbury’s UFC 126 fight against Ricardo Romero attracted more attention than the average prelim as, sporting an entirely transformed physique, he laid waste to his opponent in just 21 furious seconds. Ripped to shreds and looking like a competition bodybuilder, Kingsbury’s new physique was down to the training and nutritional advice of mentor Victor Conte, who was at the center of the famous BALCO doping scandal a few years ago.

4 Phil Baroni

Phil Baroni’s chiseled physique, along with his arrogant interviews and brutal punching power, made the ‘New York Badass’ one of the most consistently talked about fighters of the 2001–04 period. An amateur bodybuilder who combined training with getting his psychology degree, Baroni placed first or second in a handful of competitions before moving onto kickboxing and amateur boxing. In the UFC, Baroni destroyed former middleweight champion Dave Menne in 18 unforgettable seconds at UFC 39 in 2002, sparking a jubilant celebration by the “best evah” a few months after an amazing near-three minute war with Amar Suloev. He also battled Matt Lindland in a two-fight feud that generated some great action and even greater trash talking from both sides and, in his later Pride FC stint, earned stoppage wins over Ikuhisa Minowa, Ryo Chonan and Yuki Kondo. Still active, Baroni’s major-league days may be over but the 35-year-old Long Islander has already earned his place in the sport’s history.

5 Krzysztof Soszynski 

A busy UFC regular since late 2008, ‘The Polish Experiment,’ who entered the Ultimate Fighter season eight and has since gone 6-3 inside the Octagon as a light heavyweight, is a very different fighter from the Soszynski of a few years ago. Aside from the ever-growing collection of tattoos, the Polish-born Canadian is far smaller than the huge, stamina-deficient, wild-swinging heavyweight who fought in the IFL and for a host of minor-league MMA promotions. In those days, Soszynski looked like exactly what he was: a former pro wrestler who’d got into that business largely based on the physique he’d earned from a few years of bodybuilding on the provincial scene in Manitoba, Canada. However, during his time as a pro wrestler on the Canadian indie circuit he met 1976 Olympic judo bronze medalist Allen Coage (best known as pro wrestler Bad News Brown) who showed him some submissions and set him on the path to a career in fighting.